Hard Rock Cafe — Restaurant in Pigeon Forge

We’ve been to many Hard Rock Cafes around the country, and this experience was by far the worst. I should have read reviews, but since we have been to other locations without issue, I assumed this time would be the same. Boy was I wrong. To start, we had an hour wait, which surprised me for being a Sunday night well past dinner time, but we decided to roll with it. We should have taken that as our sign to go elsewhere. This experience was a hot mess. Our server Andrea was either new or just terrible at her job. She wasn’t super friendly and she forgot to take an entire order of someone at our table, so my husband had to go chase her down. Then my order came out wrong, and she never brought out another person’s dessert, so my husband had to go chase her down again. We tried to just make the most of our time there, as we had just been on the road for 12 hours and were thankful to have finally made it to our destination, but for a $350+ meal, we should have received top notch service. The food itself was decent, but my cocktail was too strong. To top the experience off with a rotten cherry, the restaurant was closing as we were finishing our meal, and the speakers started playing the song “Closing Time” which was slightly amusing, but also a bit rude, then switched to blaring “Baby Got Back.” We planned to check out the gift shop, but instead rushed out of the restaurant at this point, because our kids in the group were just old enough to understand what the song was about. Our kids weren’t the only ones there. I glanced around to see there were at least 10 other kids there, so this choice of song was in such poor taste to blare when there are families with young children present. I would never return to this location for our next trip. You want a delicious all you can eat meal and a great time with a fun atmosphere? Check out the Hatfield & McCoy dinner show. We had an amazing time there, and that was worth...

UPDATING (See the end of this, AND it’s a much more positive note!) NOT a “merry Christmas” reservation

On one hand it was Christmas Day (evening) so some forgiving might be in order, BUT having booked AND been told I had to pay in advance because it was the holiday I was expecting something good.

Which is wasn’t

The 7pm reservation apparently didn’t mean much, we arrived early and still had to wait around 30 minutes before being seated.

We apparently COULD have just shown up and done the same, NOT paid for the meal in advance AND had much more choice. (They were unwilling to apply the money ($250 or so) towards a regular meal once we asked what happened/why we had to pre-pay etc.)

The main course food was mediocre at best. When the fried chicken tastes better than anything else (the salmon, the two steaks/frittes, and the burger it’s NOT a good sign.)

Don’t order the salmon, that’s all we’ll say about that option.

The ambiance? Having done a lot of the Hard Rock locations, this was the most featureless of them all. They’ve tried to make a strip mall prefab like some of the iconic locations and failed.

So, pre-booked, pre-paid including %18 mandatory gratuity, and quite honestly thoroughly “ugh” holiday dinner.

NOT a Merry Christmas after all.

Chris

UPDATE as of early January**

Had a good, positive, and constructive conversation with Dennis the other day, we talked through the issues, the situation, and some of the things they’re going to (and have addressed) so I’m VERY appreciative of the time taken, the effort, and recognition made to resolve this.

From a personal standpoint we agreed that there were ways to resolve, sort out, and make things better so taking a deep, and welcomed breath and will be venturing back into the franchise once again

Thanks FOR taking...

I love mojitos, so I ordered one but absolutely could not drink it. That was the nastiest thing I ever experienced. The mint leaves were wilted and brown, and I had no idea what they put in it but it was disgusting. I had the nacho supreme as a meal and the chips were burnt, and I think one bite I took was pure salt. I couldn't even finish those. I had to promptly drink half a gallon of water to get the salt taste out of my mouth. I was done after that! My husband ordered the signature pork chops with mashed potatoes. The pork chops were dry and bland. The mashed potatoes tasted like someone put whole potatoes in a pot then mashed them and slopped them on a plate. I mean, how hard is it to peal potatoes and cook them and make them creamy with butter? Nope, they were BAD! The only thing was the server. She was so embarrassed and I tipped her well because it wasn't her fault. There was a full staff meeting going on right behind our booth. I mean, REALLY? We heard the entire staff meeting! I talked to the manager on our way out and he asked me if I requested to talk to a manager while we were eating...so now it's my fault! He came by our booth several times, but NEVER stopped to ask how everything was. I asked him to please don't let the nice server tip the bartender and he looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. The place was filthy, and disgusting! Run very fast in the other direction and don't look back! That was the nastiest place I've ever experienced! Oh, and by the way, my name is not Rachel! The person reviewing these posts should get their act...